Mr Roberto Fortunati > Beccar Varela > Buenos Aires, Argentina > Lawyer Profile

The Beccar Varela banking and finance team is known for its transactional capability, with experience in cross-border financing and refinancing deals with complex underlying collateral structures, as well as corporate, project and asset financings. Advising on the foreign exchange implications for bank lending is another busy area, with the practice also at the forefront of regulatory matters in the fintech space, and active in the fast-growing sustainability-linked loan and bond markets. Pablo Torretta, Luciana Denegri, Daniel Levi and Maximiliano Nicolás D’Auro jointly-lead the practice, which also continues to draw on the vast experience of veteran M&A and banking partner Roberto Fortunati. Torretta brings extensive forex, restructuring and international financing experience to the table, with Denegri an influential figure in the development of Argentina’s sustainable finance ecosystem. D’Auro, who is also prominent in the firm’s compliance practice, advises banks on financing, refinancing and regulation; while Daniel Levi, who leads the firm’s fintech group, played a leading role in Ualá’s pioneering purchase of Wilobank, the first acquisition of a bank by a fintech in Argentina. The practice strengthened its senior ranks in 2022 with the partner promotions of refinancing and restructuring expert Felipe Videla and Lucía Degano, the latter of whom heads operations in the firm’s regional office in the free trade zone in Uruguay. At associate level, seniors María Victoria Pavani (capital markets); and Gonzalo Ochoa (banking/foreign exchange regulation) are the key contacts.

Beccar Varela is a ‘trusted partner’ that multinationals, private equity firms and local SMEs turn to for support on the structuring of complex acquisitions and disposals of controlling and minority stakes, corporate reorganisations, spin-offs, and joint ventures. In addition to its active transactional practice, the team also provides day-to-day corporate advisory support to a large portfolio of domestic and international clients in a range of sectors, with its expertise in technology, financial services, agribusiness and energy particularly noted. Heavyweight M&A lawyer Roberto Crouzel co-leads the practice alongside standout transactional expert María Shakespear; ‘outstanding’ M&A lawyer Alejandro Poletto; and respected private equity and private client adviser Ramón I Moyano. Ricardo Castañeda, previously with YPF, has deepened the firm’s energy and power expertise, with natural resources department head Roberto Fortunati also making a valuable contribution. Other key partners include experienced cross-border M&A lawyer Tomás Allende; corporate and banking all-rounder Carolina Serra; and Lucía Degano, who runs the firm’s regional office in the free trade zone in Uruguay. Counsel Eugenia Radaelli (M&A, corporate advisory and banking & finance) spearheads the practice’s second line with senior associate Luciana Liefeldt another key contact.

Investors, exploration companies and equipment suppliers in the mining industry turn to Beccar Varela for support on the regulatory aspects of the Argentine mining industry, including public law, tax, and financial regulations, as well as labour, land use and temporary importations of machinery. The team serves a broad mix of clients, including senior and junior developers, and covers all phases of the mining life cycle, advising on transactions, provincial permitting issues and negotiations with landowners. The team is co-led by banking and finance veteran Roberto Fortunati, who has long been active in the sector; and corporate, project finance and mining partner Alejandro Poletto.

Oil-and-gas clients turn to Beccar Varela for advice regarding offshore exploration, concessions, EPC and other contractual matters, as well as M&A and joint ventures. The team covers all stages of the oil-and-gas production cycle, including exploration, upstream, downstream, equipment and service supplier matters. Other active areas include land use, environmental regulation and financing. The team is co-led by respected corporate and natural resources practitioner Roberto Fortunati; experienced energy partner José Carlos Cueva; Ricardo Castañeda, whose main area of focus is electricity but who also handles hydrocarbon-related work; and M&A and project finance partner Pedro Silvestri.